He turned to mount. His squire took hold of the reins below the bit, steadying the destrier. From the block her champion swung up into the tourney saddle, adjusting his body against the high curve of the cantle. The little squire brought the lance. With a move that held the grace of countless repet.i.tions, the hunchback swung the heavy spear aloft in an arc. The weapon slapped into the knight's waiting hand, slipped down against his open palm, and couched in the rest. At the spearpoint the bells of Gryngolet's jesses rang their hunter's music.

He took up his shield with the image of the hooded falcon upon it and looked down upon Melanthe. Sunlight caught the large emerald at the base of his green plumes.

"Say me thy right name," she said in English, in a low voice.

She heard herself ask it, heard the intensity of her own voice-standing amid the crowd of onlookers, not even knowing herself why she should care to know.

His armor masked him now; all she saw was his shadowed face within the helm and visor. She thought he would not answer-he had sworn to be nameless, and yet there was no smell of subterfuge about him: an impossible contrast, new to her and unsettling in its strangeness. She felt a bizarre rush of shyness to have pressed him, and turned her face downward.

"Ruck," he said.

She looked up, uncertain of the English word.

"As the black ravens call," he murmured in his own language. His mouth lifted with a half-smile. "Ruck, my lady. Be nought such a fair name, as yours, but runisch."

There was no presumption, no bold arts of love or offers of certain delight. Only that half-smile, rare and sweet, and vanished in a moment-but Melanthe saw then in him what Allegreto had claimed to see: a man's hunger beneath the reserve.

He sat mounted with his shield and lance, a warrior geared for combat. An uncouth runisch name he might bear, but his armored figure aroused a thought in her that was stunning in its novelty.

She was no longer married. She might take a friend-a lover-if she pleased.

In the same moment that she thought it, she knew the impossibility. Nothing had changed. Gian Navona had grown smoothly savage over the years of waiting for his prize. He tolerated no gallant by her-any man who could not be discouraged in his attentions would meet his fate by some insidious means, so subtle that only gossip and evil tales followed Melanthe. So subtle that she had learned to befriend no one and smiled upon no man, cold as winter now in her heart.

She turned that icy disfavor upon the knight, so that any who watched could see her do it. "I care naught for thy runisch font-name," she said, as if he'd been too dull to understand her. "What is thy court, knight?"

He showed no reaction but a turn of his thick gauntlet, gathering the reins. "My court is yours, my lady," he said in French. "And his who rules the palatine of Lancaster."

"If thou love me as thy liege," she said, "for today thy court is mine alone." She stared at him, to be certain that he took her meaning, a long moment with everything she knew of command in her eyes.

"Yea, then," he said slowly. "Yours only, my lady."

Chapter Three.

They called him by this north-name of bersaka with good reason. Melanthe was accustomed to games of combat, the innumerable hastiludes and tournaments and spectacles she had attended, celebrating every occasion from weddings to foreign emba.s.sies. A plaisance-pleasantries, as Lancaster had promised. But with his blunted tournament weapons, her Green Knight fought as if he meant to kill.

Melanthe had led him last into the lists, holding back until two lines had formed: opposing ranks of destriers and knights, their banners waving gently over the fantastical crests of staghorns and griffons and outlandish beasts, as if each man vied to display a deeper nightmare than the next atop his helm. Down the open s.p.a.ce between she led her Green Sire, halting at the center to the sound of scattered cool applause. The moment she had released his horse, a pair of pages in Lancaster's livery hurried up to her, catching her by the hand and escorting her to a place upon the escafaut below Prince Edward on his red-draped couch and dais. She curtsied deeply to the prince and princess, then took her seat next to the duke's empty chair.

There was to be no old-fashioned melee. At the stout gate into the tilting ground, a monument of red stone held the insignia of the defenders. As each knight had ridden past in the procession, he had struck the shield of his choice to issue his challenge-and the green shield emblazoned with a silver falcon bore so many sword and lance wounds of challenge that the wood showed through the paint. Not every knight had touched it; many had raised their weapons and brought them down as if they would hit the falcon, then at the last instant held back, bowing deliberately toward Lancaster, and struck some other arms.

But even so, there were no less than a score of rivals beyond the duke himself who had signaled a wish to fight for Melanthe's favor. The trumpets sounded, clearing the lists of all but Lancaster's swarm of attendants and her champion with his single man. As the Green Sire reined his destrier into position, the jeers began. They would not sneer openly at Melanthe, but her champion was fair game, it seemed.

The entire crowd burst into frenzied acclaim for Lancaster as the duke rode forward into place, surrounded by his squires and grooms. The Green Sire made no sign of noticing either applause or taunts; he rested his lance on the ground and slipped Gryngolet's jesses from the tip. The marshal of the lists accepted responsibility for Melanthe's prize, riding back to the escafaut. As he handed her the jesses, both combatants lifted their lances in salute.

Melanthe bowed to her champion, ignoring Lancaster.

The trumpets clarioned. The lances swung downward. Both horses roused; the Green Knight's half reared and came down squarely as Lancaster's was already trotting forward. The green destrier sprang off its haunches into a gallop. Lancaster's bay mount hit its stride, rolling the sound of hoof-beats over the stands and the crowd.

An instant before impact, the Green Knight threw his shield away. The crowd roared, obscuring the sound as the lances. .h.i.t. Lancaster's bounced upward, flying free and solid into the air along with the shattered splinters of his opponent's weapon. The Green Sire pulled up at the far end of the list, carrying half of a demolished tournament spear in one hand.

Tossing away his shield was the entire extent of his consideration for his prince. In five more courses he broke five lances on the duke, and took off Lancaster's helm on the sixth-whereupon the marshal threw down his white arrow to end the match. To Melanthe's displeasure, Lancaster accepted this without demur, not even demanding to go on to the foot combat.

Amid a murmur that spoke faintly of disfavor from the crowd, the duke saluted Melanthe and his brother and left the lists with his retinue.

She had not counted upon such a paltry showing. Not even the partisan onlookers could accuse her of withholding her favor from him without reason. But when he joined her upon the escafaut, he seemed unembarra.s.sed-gay, rather, speaking favorably of his opponent's skill to his brother Edward for a moment before he sat down beside Melanthe. The musicians behind them struck up warbling tunes.

"A fair fight, my lady," he said, "though your champion makes no fine distinction between battlefield and tourney. I only hope that he slays none of our guests."

She felt an irritated urge to rise to this bait. "He faced you without shield," she said shortly.

"Yea-so they told me, but indeed I did not know it until he took off my helm, or I should have done the same." He raised his hand for refreshment and took the cup his squire offered, drinking deeply. "Or mayhap not. Mary, I have no desire to be run through in a joust and buried in unconsecrated ground."

He laughed, but there was a glitter of deeper emotion in him. Melanthe watched him as he drained the wine, tossed the cup down, and turned back to the lists with relish. This was some artificial show-she felt it, studying his unabashed countenance. It was not over yet, not at all. Lancaster had no intention of concluding with such a poor display.

She turned a look of better humor upon him. "I will not believe you stand in such peril, sir. Come, you will fight again, will you not?"

The flicker of hesitation told her all that she need know. "Why-nay, madam. I will take my ease at your side, if you will be kind. Here, now comes your champion into the lists again."

A challenger, emblazoned in gold and black and crested by the gilt head of a leopard, was being led into position by two squires, while Melanthe's knight circled his courser and backed it into place. He had resumed his fighting shield. The lances dipped; a gold-and-black squire shouted and stabbed a stick into the rump of the other horse. The animal jumped forward under the goad, galloping wildly, half shying as her champion's stallion bore down upon it.

The green lance caught its target full in the chest. With a jerk he sailed from the saddle as the horse went down. They somersaulted in opposite directions, the destrier hauling itself upright in a flail of hooves and caparisons to trot intemperately about the list, evading attempts to capture it.

"Poorly mounted," Lancaster murmured dryly.

The gold challenger struggled to his feet, pulling off his helmet and demanding his ax. The Green Sire dismounted, changing to a bascinet helm and sending the visor down with a clamp as the hunchback led his mount away. The challenger came at him, swinging a long-handled ax. It whirred past his shoulder as he stepped aside; he lifted his weapon and took a single cut behind his opponent's knees. The other man fell- and one more murderous strike, blade-on to his helmet, slicing an edge through the metal, was enough to make him shout pax. He was bleeding at the temple when his squire pulled off his helmet.

They did not proceed to the sword combat.

While the musicians played harmonious melodies and Mclanthe sat calmly beside Lancaster, her champion smashed the pretensions of three more challengers. Two lances were shattered on him, but no contender fought as far as the swords, and one left the first course of axes with a broken hand.

Outside the lists, where common men-at-arms mingled with the squires and pages, there was a small but growing band of onlookers who met the Green Sire's victories with a ragged volley of cheers. Melanthe made no sign herself, but a feeling of pleasant awe began to steal over her, watching him fight. Berserker, indeed. It only remained to see that Lancaster be fired to face her champion again.

Melanthe already suspected the duke's intention. To allow a goodly number of challengers, wearing his rival down and painting him invincible at the same time... then perhaps a private visitation by some secret "friend," warning him of his prince's displeasure and designed to shake his nerve... and somehow Lancaster, fresh from hours of relaxation in the stands, would find a reason to meet the Green Sire at the end of the day.

She could appreciate Lancaster's design. It required a fine judgment-Melanthe smiled inwardly as he lifted a finger to communicate with the marshal of the lists, who instantly caused the heralding of a new set of combatants, allowing the Green Sire his first rest. It would not do to have him appear too easy-and just as vital to properly exhaust him before the coup de grace.

Melanthe prepared to ensure that the duke misjudged his moment.

She toyed with the jeweled jesses, turning a disinterested look on the new jousters. "Tell me of my champion," she said. "He is nameless in truth?"

"Nameless, yea, my lady. A n.o.body. He gives homage and claims our service, but brings no men of his own beyond that malformed squire."

"No lands, then? But such rich gear, and a great war-horse. He has won many prizes in tournament, I expect?"

The duke laughed. "Few enough, for I've better use for him in real fighting, but it is true that when he enters the lists, he prevails. I have sometimes sent him on a dragon hunt, for sport, but he brings me no prize yet."

"And still he has not proved himself worthy of his name?"

Lancaster turned his palm up casually. "The fortunes of war and dragons, my lady. All must await their great chance at honor, if it ever comes." He shrugged. "Haps he has no name. G.o.d only must know where he thieved his gear. It's my thought that he's naught but a freeman."

"A freeman!" Melanthe turned in amazement.

"Else why hide his lineage? That falcon device is recorded on no roll of rightful arms, so say the heralds. But the Green Sire has a talent to lead common soldiers. What men he commands, they come to love him, and the French dread his name. No great chivalry in that, but it is a useful art." He leaned back in his chair and smiled. "So we tolerate his odds and his unlawful device and green horse, Princess-and if he likes to call you his liege lady for a fantasy, then we will enjoy the game."

Melanthe swung the jesses lightly between her fingers, drawing them over the back of his hand. "A poor game to the present, my lord! Know you of no man strong enough to win my favor from this odd knight?"

Lancaster caught up the jesses and kissed them. The bells rang brightly. "I shall find one, Princess," he murmured. "Fear not for that."

Furious shouts drowned the music as a fistfight broke out between a foot soldier and a youth from the retinue of a defeated challenger. Lancaster watched until some of the guards had separated them, and then turned again to Melanthe. "Will you take wine, my lady? The dust rises."

At his words, Cara stood up from her stool behind, placing a tray between their chairs to offer the ewer and goblets. As the duke reached to pour, Melanthe sat back in her seat with a pert moue of impatience.

"Nay, sir, I shall not." She waved Cara away. "This sport is too tame. I vow by Saint John, my lord-nothing, food nor drink, shall pa.s.s my lips until a new champion wins my admiration."

He lifted his brows, his hand poised with the ewer. "So eager, my lady? The day is long, and the earth dry."

"So it is," she agreed. She trifled with the jesses, allowing the bells to tinkle. "But I am dauntless. Indeed, I challenge you to join me, and dedicate your comfort to this quest. Surely it is little enough to venture"-she glanced at him beneath her lashes-"as you do not bestir yourself to fight for my prize again."

Lancaster's mouth showed a very faint tautening. She saw the struggle in him, pride against guile, but he smiled at last and nodded toward her. "As you will, my lady." He set down the ewer. "By Saint John, I vow it. No food or drink shall I take until you are satisfied with a new champion."

As the noon pa.s.sed, Melanthe sat upon the escafaut, fanning herself conspicuously with a green plume. The day was clement enough that winter clothing weighed heavily; the duke in his blue-and-crimson houpelande was a little flushed at the neck, his crown resting on hair that curled damply, darkened against his temple. The Black Prince, fretful and complaining of his swollen joints, had retired with his wife, carried in his litter from the stands to the shade of a magnificent tent set a little back from the noise and dirt.

As each new course of jousting sent dust into the air, Melanthe covered her mouth with a scarf and coughed lightly to convey her discomfort. She looked with a great show of longing at a tray of lozenges and cream tarts that pa.s.sed en route to some other guests. The duke made no such indication of interest, but she was pleased to note that he swallowed once after the wine had traversed their view.

The Green Sire was handily trouncing all comers. Melanthe sighed, watching a knight outfitted in a boar's head helm pick himself up from a fall, the boar's tusks smashed and drooping askew. "I weary of these trials," she said. "Has he some magic, or be your men all weak as willow wands?"

"No magic, my lady, but goodly strength and skill," Lancaster said. "He, too, is mine," he added in a cool reminder.

Melanthe returned a taunting smile to that and casually jingled her bells. The noise of the onlookers grew, a confusion of cheers and scorn, pa.s.sions flourishing as support for the Green Sire seemed to increase, scattered widely now among the mixed crowd below. Around the stout fence that enclosed the lists, youths and attendants thronged beside men-at-arms, all pressing as close as they could while the next combatant and his retinue surged through the gate.

The Green Sire pulled off his great helm, bending awkwardly to wipe his eyes and forehead with the tail of his tunic. A man-at-arms shouted, ducking through the fence to hand him a clean cloth. His intrusion past the lawful barrier sparked a great roar.

In the stands n.o.ble ladies shrilled their disapproval, answered by impudent shouts from some of the common soldiers below. Another scuffle broke out and spread. Melanthe felt the duke tense beside her, but his guards moved quickly, laying about with clubs and staves and hauling the brawlers away.

Lancaster made another subtle signal to the marshal, and the next challenge heralded was without the Green Sire. Melanthe watched as her champion left the gate. He and his squire were surrounded instantly by soldiers and commoners, who made a phalanx about his horse and escorted him through the mob toward the tents.

"But if you allow him yet more rest, my lord," she complained petulantly, "what chance have these beardless children to defeat him?"

Lancaster swung a goaded look upon her. She swished the plume lightly.

"There are other matches to be fought, Princess," he said. "We have a hundred knights who desire to joust."

"I suppose my champion has not time to fight them all," she murmured. "Though I vow, I had not truly supposed him the greatest of the lot. I believe my father or brother could have knocked him down several times over."

He managed a creditable smile. "Perhaps so, my lady. But the day is not yet gone."

"I despair of surprises at this late hour." She shook her head. "The great days of the tournaments are past. We have only boys' games now. The king your father, G.o.d's blessing upon him, would find this a pale image of the splendid spectacles he has hosted."

Lancaster had become quite red now about the neck, but still he only nodded, stiffly polite. "There is naught to surpa.s.s the tournaments of our beloved lord the king."

Melanthe gazed upon the pair now thundering toward each other. To her pleasure, and the crowd's sneers, they missed each another entirely-a commonplace in any ordinary pas de arms, but the first time it had occurred today. She clucked ruefully. "I suppose the Italians care more for their honor in these matters," she commented. "They take their ease upon the hearth rug instead of in the lists, and joust like gallant men before the ladies."

Lancaster made a sudden move, sitting straighter in his chair. A page moved quickly to him-they bent their heads together for an instant, and then the duke rose. "You will forgive my discourtesy, Your Highness." He bowed deeply. "A summons from my brother the prince-I regret I must leave your companionship awhile."

Melanthe acknowledged him with good grace. "Be pleased to go at once," she said, "with my health and dear friendship, may G.o.d keep our esteemed Lord Edward the prince."

He turned, with a degree less than his usual elegance, and strode down the steps behind his page. The musicians continued to play their merry melody. Melanthe looked after him, fanning herself slowly and smiling.

The crowd had grown dangerously restless with the lesser jousts, and Lancaster was still missing from the escafaut by the time the heralds' trumpets blew a great fanfare, silencing the musicians and the noise. The marshal of the lists held up his arms and strode to the center of the ground, his slashed sleeves showing blue under scarlet and his cape flying out behind him.

"Now comes the one who will take their measure!" he shouted. "The one who will take their measure has arrived!"

As he declared the ritual words, old as the legends of King Arthur and Lancelot, the throng burst into frenzy. The discharge of sound beat against Melanthe's ears like the blare of the trumpets themselves.

From between the tents came a knight the color of blood-sunset, galloping with his black lance balanced on one hand above his head, his armor shining reddish gold. He rode a ma.s.sive black destrier encased in the same shimmering metal. His shield was sable, as dark as his lance and horse, without device or color.

He dragged his mount to a halt at the stone monument. A hush fell over the onlookers, delicious expectation; a carnal pleasure in this drama. The black lance poised-and came down on the silver falcon, rocking it with force of the blow. The shield he had chosen rang with a wooden resonance as the cheers. .h.i.t a new plane of pa.s.sion.

A outrance.

The black lance had no safe coronal to blunt it, but a sharp tip. The shield it had struck was not the battered falcon with the hood, but the one that hung above it, with the silver bird of prey unhooded, offering combat a outrance-beyond all limits.

A joust of war, fought to the death with real weapons.

His attendants came behind him, a full score, masked, dressed as fools in rainbow colors, playing flutes and hunting horns. The curling toes of their shoes were so long and pointed that they were attached by belled chains at the knee. They made a grotesque fantasy behind the blood-gold knight, an uncanny contrast to his hostile silence.

Amid the cries and tumult, Melanthe's green knight rode out to meet him, armed with a sharpened lance. She pressed her palms together and tasted the salt on her fingertips, then folded her hands and held Gryngolet's jesses motionless in her lap.

The hunting horns mingled their clear notes with the trumpets, rising higher and higher into the air. They broke off one by one, leaving a single carol from the herald's horn to ascend and echo back from the stands and the river and the city walls, dying away like an angel's voice.

The knights saluted Melanthe, the golden one with an extra flourish.

As they faced their mounts toward each other, the Green Sire pulled his arm from within the leather straps and threw his shield away.

He knew it. Melanthe knew it. The crowd guessed it-and burst into a furor of scandalized exaltation as the man hidden inside the ruddy gold armor tossed down his blank shield in answer.

When the lances couched level, an instant of silent antic.i.p.ation blanketed the onlookers. The black horse threw its head and charged. The Green Sire spurred his destrier. In the hush the thunderous roll of the animals' hooves made the wood beneath Melanthe's feet vibrate.

The lances impacted with the sound of fractured bone, of a hundred hammers against steel. Both knights fell backward and sideways, clinging to smashed lances; hanging half off their mounts against the weight of armor as the onlookers broke into an uproar.

The rainbow attendants rushed to propel their master back into place and supply him with a fresh lance. He was already at the charge before the Green Sire had hauled himself upright and grabbed his new lance from the hunchback. As the green spear swung up, tip to the sky, Melanthe realized that he had it in the wrong hand to meet his opponent.

A sound like a great moan rose from the crowd. His dancing mount froze in place. As the challenger realized his advantage, he aimed for the most vital target, leveling the black lance at his adversary's head. The green knight didn't even attempt to compel his horse forward, but faced the oncoming lance and rider as if he were entranced. The onlookers' groan rose to voluptuous agony.